


In the Aftermath

by nanuk_dain



Series: Drift Compatible [29]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Coma, Healing, M/M, Team Hot Dads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-04-01 10:34:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4016455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nanuk_dain/pseuds/nanuk_dain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Herc wakes up after Operation Pitfall to find that the world has changed and he doesn't know what happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> First of all I want you all to know that the series is NOT FINISHED! I've got five more stories that are written in bits and pieces, and plot for a lot more. I hope you're still interested after that extensive break... 
> 
> I'm sorry for my long absence and I hope I can make it up by offering you another longish fic ^^ The next one is going to follow soon!
> 
> And most important: You'd make my day sooooooo much brighter if you left me a wee comment ^_^ I'd love to hear what you think!

_Hong Kong Shatterdome, 14th January 2025_

 

The world is murky, an undefined shape wobbling all around him, and the only thing that makes sense is the familiar feeling of Stacker's presence in his mind. It's somehow different, but it's still fundamentally the same, and that's enough to calm him. He gives up on trying to concentrate on that fuzzy, shapeless world and allows himself to just drift as if he was immersed in water, bobbing up and down, left and right, completely aimless. Time has no meaning, he has no memories of anything other than the bubble he lives in now, and somehow it doesn't worry him. 

Then there's a change in the comfortable undefined nowhere that he shares with Stacker, and it's sharp and painful and unpleasant. It's as if his body has returned, or as if _he_ has returned to his body, because there are sensations coming from his limbs, his bones, his skin. The connection to the real world, the outside world, intrudes on his peaceful ignorance, and he fights it with all his might. He doesn't want to leave this place where there's only Stacker and him, nothing but them, peace and quiet. It's like a dream, and waking up will destroy it, make its pleasantness fade away until there's not even a trace of it left. 

He loses the fight.

It's then that the memories return, but they're not a slowly tickling creek, they're a rapid stream, overwhelming him, dragging him away with their powerful, painful intensity. There's Angie, there are monsters, huge and thoroughly evil and _real_ , there's the agonizing hole that swallows him after they take her. There's Chuck, young and cheerful and laughing at Bondi Beach with the wind tousling his unruly ginger hair. Then he's older, frowning, always frowning, never laughing. There's sharp words, a tongue that cuts Herc deeper than any knife ever could. There's guilt, anger, pride, disappointment and blame, all at the same time, and it's eating Herc alive, slowly but steadily.

But there's also warmth, a steady presence that stands by his side throughout it all, never leaving him to his pain, never allowing him to wallow, to lose himself. It's a part of him and yet it isn't. He knows it better than he knows himself, and it knows him all the same, with all his dark secrets and his weaknesses and his bad habits. Stacker, the one who held him when the world crashed and burned around him in the wake of Angie's death. The one who challenged him every day again to make him reach new levels he didn't even know he could achieve. The one he shares his mind with and who still loves him. 

Stacker, his perfect match who he's been threatened to lose to cancer for almost as long as he can remember. Stacker, who instead detonated an thermonuclear bomb strapped to their Jaeger's back to give the world a chance at life. The last thing Herc remembers is triggering Striker's brandnew escape pods. Afterwards, there's nothing.

He takes a moment to recover from the ordeal of his memories returning all at once. He unconsciously reaches out for Stacker with his mind and finds him. He can feel him, although everything is a bit muffled. When he takes a deep breath, he picks up his scent, familiar and reassuring. It's enough to keep him from doing something stupid. He may not have any idea where he is or what happened, but the fact that Stacks is here with him, physically touching him, tells him a lot already.

Herc pushes the thoughts aside. It's more important to asses his current situation and find out as much about his surroundings as he can. First, though, he takes stock of his body. The slightly out-of-it feeling lets him know he's on strong painkillers; it's a feeling he's become familiar with in his long military career. There's a dull but still palpable pain in his right arm, and a burning sensation all over the left side of his face. They're the most prominent sources of discomfort, but the strong painkillers take the edge off them. He can also tell that he's bruised all over and his muscles are aching, but overall Herc thinks he's okay. Better than he expected considering the rough ride that was Operation Pitfall. 

It's time to find out more about his surroundings, so he carefully opens his eyes and immediately has to squeeze them shut again because even the dimmed light is too much. He's careful not to make any sound or overt movement to not give away that he's awake. They could be in a hostile environment, he doesn't know yet if they're safe. 

After a minute or two Herc gives it another try, more careful this time. He only peeks through halfway closed lids, taking in as much of his surroundings as he can. He recognises the room immediately as a Shatterdome's medical bay, but that knowledge fades into the back of his mind almost instantly. He can't avert his gaze from the man camped out next to the bed.

It's Chuck. 

Herc stares, having a hard time believing what he's seeing. Chuck is sitting in an uncomfortable looking plastic chair at the edge of the bed, a thick paperback in his hands, obviously engrossed in the story. He's still at the beginning, maybe thirty pages in, but the book looks well worn and Chuck seems familiar with it. There's a stark white bandage covering all of his right arm down to the wrist, and there are blue and green bruises visible all over his skin, but otherwise he looks unharmed.

Herc forgets all of his caution and turns his head to look straight at his son. If Chuck is here with him, in the Shatterdome's med bay, they're as safe as they're going to get. 

"Chuck." Herc tries to say his son's name, but even to his own ears it sounds more like unarticulated croaking. It does the trick, though, because Chuck's head jerks up and his eyes find Herc's. He's sure there's something akin to wonder in his gaze, but it might be the light fooling him.

"Hey dad." Chuck is actually giving him a smile, a real one, not the one laced with anger and not-so-subtle provocation that Herc got used to over the past few years. For a moment Herc wonders if maybe he _did_ die, and his twisted idea of heaven includes this is unrealistic, angelic version of his son. It certainly doesn't seem real, especially when Chuck reaches for a glass of water and hands it to him, sitting down on the edge of the bed instead of returning to the chair. It's all very unlike the Chuck he knows.

"How're you feeling?" Chuck asks, his voice low and a little rough, as if he hasn't used it in a while. He's still holding the worn paperback, his finger stuck between the pages to mark where he stopped reading. 

"Battered, but the painkillers are really good." Herc replies with a smirk when he accepts the glass - with his left hand, because it's just now that he notices that there's a cast on his right arm. His gaze falls on Stacker who's lying next to him, so close that Herc can feel his warmth where they're touching. Stacker looks peaceful, his face relaxed and his eyes closed. There are two sensors attached to his temple, their designs vaguely familiar. Herc's gaze flickers through the room while sipping the water until it lands on the book that Chuck seems unable to set aside. 

Chuck follows his gaze and shrugs, and that gesture seems more like his Chuck. Defiant, a tad embarrassed and just on this side of defensive. "It's Raleigh's. I never got to read the beginning."

For a horrible moment Herc wonders where Raleigh is and his stomach clenches in absolutely terrifying fear that he didn't make it. Herc knows what it means to fear to lose your perfect match, he's lived with it for ten years and he learned to deal with it. But Chuck... hot-headed, emotionally unstable Chuck who for the first time since his mother's death has allowed anybody close... he wouldn't survive losing Raleigh, his perfect match...

Just then Herc realises that Chuck wouldn't be sitting here, all quiet and composed, if he'd lost Raleigh.

"He's down the hall. Mako's sitting with him." Chuck explains as if he read Herc's mind. "She was with you guys before, and we decided to switch places for a while."

It still takes Herc a moment to regain his composure, and he covers it up by taking another sip of water. "Is he okay?"

Chuck is quiet for a moment too long, and Herc noticed how he averts his gaze for the fraction of a second before he replies. "He will be."

There more to this, Herc is sure of it, but he knows this is not the moment to address the matter. He's not up to it, and he's reasonably sure that neither is Chuck. He doesn't want to end their first conversation after the collapse of the Breach with an argument. They've done so good til now, it'd be a shame to ruin the promising start. So he changes the subject to ask a question that burned in the back of his mind the entire time, but only now does he put it into words. "Did we do it?"

"Yeah, dad." Chuck grins, triumphant and cocky and it's almost a relief how much he looks like himself. "We did it. The Breach collapsed."

Herc allows himself a grin and a sigh of relief, because this is what they've been fighting for for so long, and they _did it_. "So it's really over."

"Sure is." Chuck agrees, the grin still as cocky as before. "We kicked their Kaiju arses back to their dimension." 

Herc sets the water glass down on the bedside table and turns to look at Stacker again. Operation Pitfall was a success, even if it didn't go quite according to plan. They even survived it, and that's something nobody expected, least of all Stacker. Herc can feel him, his presence in his mind so much stronger now that they've drifted again, but he can also tell that Stacker is neither dreaming not thinking about anything. It's quiet in his mind, and Herc isn't quite sure if he should be worried about it. "Chuck, what's wrong with Stacker?"

The grin leaves Chuck's face and his lips press into a thin line for a moment. It makes an unpleasant shiver run down Herc's back. "He's in a medically induced coma. Caitlin Lightcap is here, she's supervising it."

Herc frowns and latches onto the most important thing. "Coma?"

"It has something to do with the neural load. I don't know all about it, but I'm sure Doc Lightcap does." Chuck gets up off the bed immediately, as if he's suddenly feeling highly uncomfortable. "I'll go get her."

"I'm not used to you being so helpful. It's kind of scary." Herc says before he can think about it.

Chuck stops on his way to the door, frozen in mid motion, and he doesn't turn around for a long moment. Herc wants to kick himself for those words, for breaking the fragile peace they have just begun to establish. Why does he have to put his foot in his mouth when Chuck is for once not pushing him away? Why can't he just welcome the careful peace offering he's given? He knows how much of an effort Chuck's making right now.

"I get it now, you know. The thing between you and Pentecost." Chuck shrugs, still facing the door, and his voice is very quiet. It's the total opposite reaction of what Herc expected. "Since Raleigh was..." 

He stops, and Herc doesn't know if it's painful memories or insecurity that keeps him from finishing that sentence. Chuck straightens and when looks at Herc over his shoulder, there's a maturity to his gaze that Herc has never seen before. "I just get it. Perfect match and all that."

Before Herc has a chance to reply anything, Chuck has left the room and closed the door almost silently behind him. It's all so unlike the Chuck he remembers from before Operation Pitfall that Herc has problems believing that it's real. He wonders if maybe he's in a coma too, like Stacks, and this is his way of coping with the fact that Chuck can't have survived the suicide mission. 

But if this actually is reality, then something must have happened that changed Chuck, something really bad. Herc wonders how he can find out what it is, because he's sure Chuck won't answer if he asks. They might make an effort, they might get along better, but they're not that far down the road of forgiveness yet. Obviously it has something to do with Raleigh and with whatever happened after the bomb exploded... 

He's still staring at the door with a frown on his face, deep in thoughts, when it suddenly opens and a woman in a white lab coat slips in, a tablet in hand. Chuck follows behind her, and he doesn't look like he's mad. It makes Herc distinctly uneasy, he doesn't know how to deal with this new Chuck who's not challenging and provoking him at every corner.

"Good to see you, Herc." The woman says and Herc immediately recognises her as Dr Caitlin Lightcap. Her hair is a bit longer and she's wearing different glasses, but apart from that, she hasn't changed much. She smiles at him, honest and real, same as he remembers her. 

"You too, Caitlin." Herc spontaneously returns her smile and finds that he means it. He hasn't seen her in years, but somehow that's not important. They've always worked really well together, him, Stacker and Caitlin, and that's something that's still there. 

"I know you're worried about him." She holds his gaze, and he sees that she really understands. "I wish I could tell you that everything is going to be all right, but the truth is that we don't even know what's going on in his head. When your escape pods were found by the fishing boat off Okinawa, you were both unconscious. You woke on the transport back to the Shatterdome for a few minutes, but Stacker didn't."

"I guess that's not a good sign." Herc tries for casual, but he knows she sees right trough him. She was the first one to notice that he and Stacker are a prefect match, she knows what he means to him. She is a pilot herself, even if she and Sergio aren't a perfect match, and she understands drifting and what it does to you.

Caitlin slowly shakes her head. "I honestly don't know, Herc. Stacker's brain was always unusual, the fact alone that he was able to pilot solo confirms that. Even back in the days when the two of you were acting as test pilots for me his readings were always different. We didn't have enough data on the drift and its effect on the participants' brains yet to reach any conclusions, but when I reviewed all the data on the flight to Hong Kong it stood out clearly."

Herc listens quietly, his hand holding Stacker's underneath the blankets. He needs the physical connection, the urge is far stronger than he ever remembers it being, even right after their match. Chuck is paying close attention to everything Caitlin is saying from where he's leaning against the wall next to the door. Herc catches his gaze and finds a sort of understanding there that he neither expected nor knows how to react to. Chuck's different behaviour still completely throws him off kilter.

Caitlin continues talking and Herc returns his focus to her. "Stacker shouldn't have survived the solo piloting in 2016, nevermind still have normal cognitive functions afterwards, but he did. I warned him about the danger of drifting again, and I still stand by that warning, but I think that you and him being a perfect match may have influenced the odds in his favour. I'm still reviewing and analysing the data, especially the readings from Operation Pitfall, and I don't want to say any more before I'm done with it and I actually know what I'm talking about."

Herc nods, it's not like he can say anything against that. It's the only logical course of action, never mind that he'd rather have answers and solutions _right now_. "So there's nothing I can do but wait."

"Not quite." Caitlin says and points at Stacker. "I'm sure you noticed the sensors on his temples. They constantly monitor his brain activity, and we're keeping him under until we've managed to go through all the data we got from Striker during your drift. That's where you come in."

"Yeah?"

"I'd like to chart your brain activity as well, if you agree. It's just an inkling on my side, but I suspect that your and Stacker's brains have a different structure due to the fact that you're a perfect match. And that drifting together influenced how your brains work. I'd like to test that theory."

Herc glances at Stacker's motionless face. "Anything I can do to help." 

Caitlin takes two sensors out of her lab coat pocket, leans forward and attaches one of the little wireless devices to his left temple and the other to his right. They give a tiny beep when she activates them and Herc watches her check the transmission on her tablet. "It's working. I'll record your brain activity over the next 24 hours, then I can correlate the results with Stacker's data."

"Caitlin." She looks up and Herc holds her gaze. "Will he wake up?"

"I can't tell you yet, Herc. All I know for sure is that there are areas of his brain active that are dormant in an average human brain. That alone tells me that hope is not lost yet." She doesn't look away, and there's a gentle smile on her lips. "But tell me, Herc, can you feel him?"

Herc doesn't need to think about the answer. "Yes."

"Is the connection strong or weak?"

Again he needs no time to think. "Strong. Stronger than it was in a long time. Probably due to our recent drift."

"Do you get bad feelings over it?"

Herc concentrates on their ghost drift for a moment. "No. It's... quiet. No dreams, no thoughts. Just very peaceful and quiet. It's a bit like he's recharging."

"See, you could already tell me more than all the data I have at my disposal." She gives him a pointed look that still somehow is gentle and understanding. "He's still in there. We'll find a way to get to him. With your help, he has the best chances."

Herc swallows against the lump in his throat. He forgot how insightful she is when she allows it to show. She always knew how to get through to him and Stacker, which is partly the reason why the three of them were such a good test team. 

He gives a nod and holds her gaze. "Thanks, Caitlin."

"You're welcome." She puts her hand on his and gives a reassuring squeeze. "Now get some rest. I'll come by again later."

She stops when she's almost gone, the door handle in hand. She turns towards Chuck and winks at him. "Keep an eye on him and make sure he actually stays in bed. I'm sure you know how difficult that can be."

Chuck chuckles and gives a mock salute. "I'll do my best, Doc."

"I knew I could count on you." Caitlin smirks and disappears through the door. Herc just snorts. She sure knows how to pull Chuck on her side.

Chuck comes over to the bed once Caitlin is gone. He still has he paperback in his hand, Herc notes absent-mindedly when Chuck stands next to the bed and gives Herc a pointed look. "Don't even think about it."

"Chuck, really, I don't feel that bad. I should get back to work." Herc tries to argue. It's true, he doesn't feel like an invalid, he's just a bit tired and maybe still a little high on painkillers. He feels like he has missed so much in the last two days, and he has a fairly good idea of how much work there is to do in the aftermath of the closure of the Breach. He's not so bad off that he needs to hide in the med bay instead of doing his job. Especially now that Stacks is not there to lead the PPDC either.

"Dad." Chuck's voice sounds exasperated, and Herc thinks that finally, there's the old Chuck coming through. It took longer than he'd expected. "Tendo and Mako have done a great job at running the PPDC until now, I'm pretty sure they can deal with it for another day. Get some rest, sleep, and tomorrow we'll see what the docs say."

It's not the old Chuck, Herc suddenly realises. Beneath the exasperated tone there's fond amusement in his voice instead of plain provocation, and his smile is teasing, not patronising. More than anything Herc witnessed before does this drive the point home how much must have happened in the last few days that Herc missed. How much things changed, how much _Chuck_ changed.

He doesn't quite know what to say, but Chuck saves him from having to answer by continuing. "Mako wanted to see you when you woke. I'll get back to Raleigh and send her over."

Herc watches Chuck pull the door shut behind him and stares at it long after Chuck is gone. Only when the pain in his shoulder becomes noticeable does Herc lie back, resting his head on the pillow next to Stacker. 

Mako. 

He doesn't even know how to thank her for what she did. She somehow managed not only to have escape pods installed in Striker - a Jaeger that was never meant to have any, not that Herc ever understood why - she also added the express ejection mode. And she pulled it off within only four days while having a broken collarbone and simultaneously repairing Gipsy Danger. She worked a miracle, of that he's certain. When she told him about it right before Stacker and he deployed in Striker, Herc had hugged her, a completely spontaneous reaction. He knew how much work she must have put in it, she probably hadn't slept in days to get it done before Operation Pitfall, never knowing when the mission would start. 

The express mode was a hell of a ride that Herc never wants to repeat, but he's most certainly not complaining. The ejection may have given him a broken right arm, a large laceration across the left side of his face and a massive concussion along with more bruises and contusions than he can count, but he's _alive_. He hadn't expect to come back from this mission at all, not even when he triggered his and Stacker's ejection a few seconds before the detonation of the payload.

Neither did he expect to come out of it with Stacker still by his side, alive and breathing. The only difference between his and Stacker's condition is that Stacker never woke up from the unconscious state that is an inevitable byproduct of the express ejection of the escape pods.

There's a little knock on the door, and then Mako comes in. She closes the door without making any noise, and Herc can't help thinking that it's a very Mako thing to do. She's wearing a standard issue uniform with a black jumper, and her arm is still rendered immobile in a dark green sling. She's smiling, the shy but very pleased smile, and Herc knows it's for him, because he's back, he's alive, he's awake. It feels pretty humbling to know how much that means to her.

"Sir." She's still smiling and only stops once she's standing next to the bed. "How are you?"

"No 'sir', Mako. We're long past that." Herc points out and returns her smile. He knows that she's not comfortable calling him 'Herc' and he won't force her, but the 'sir' is a few steps too formal. It has no place here, not after everything that happened. "We're family, after all."

She doesn't reply, but there's a glistering to her eyes that he thinks might be unshed tears, and he doesn't know how to deal with that. Not from Mako, who is always controlled and rational. It tells him how deeply this affects her, how much it means to her. She almost lost her entire family two days ago, even thought Stacker and him to be dead, and Herc can only imagine what that must have done to her. She has lost so much already in her young life, and she still is so strong and determined and motivated. 

It pains him to think that Stacker and he hurt her so much by almost dying. It says a lot about her, about who she is, that instead of giving up, she did everything in her power to avert fate. She knew that Operation Pitfall was a suicide mission, and yet she had done the impossible and tried to even out the odds, to give them even the faintest chance of survival. Herc wants to thank her for that, but he doesn't have the words, doesn't know where to begin, because she is the reason he is here now, but not only him, Stacker as well. Without Stacker, Herc wouldn't know what to do. Of course he knows that Stacker's cancer is still an issue, but they've been given a second chance, a chance at a life with their children, in a world that isn't constantly threatened by monsters. And he has Mako to thank for that. 

After a long moment of trying to find the right word, Herc says the only thing he can think of, no matter that it will never be enough.

"Thank you, Mako." Herc's voice almost breaks, and he can feel his eyes prickle. 

She's still looking at him, and then she smiles, her shy, honest smile that tells him more than any words could have. 

"I'm very glad you're back." She says and then she reaches out and takes hold of his hand, always mindful of the cast. Her fingers are warm, the skin rough from all the hard work she's been doing her entire life. She feels real, and it grounds him. "Both of you."

Herc gives her hand a squeeze, trying to say what he needs her to know without words. He sucks at talking about feelings, always did, and Chuck definitely got that from him. "You're the reason we are back, Mako. You made it possible."

She looks a bit embarrassed, but she neither contradicts him nor lowers her gaze, accepting his gratitude. Then her eyes flicker up to Stacker's face which is as calm and motionless as before. Herc follows her gaze, then he squeezes her hand.

"He's in there, Mako. I can feel him, strong and steady. He'll wake up. We just have to give him a little bit of time." Herc says and suddenly knows that it's true. Somehow he doesn't doubt that Stacker will regain consciousness, he feels it somewhere deep inside their connection. Stacker needs time, but he will come back to them once he has recharged.

Mako holds his gaze, almost inquisitively, and she seems to find what she was looking for because she nods. She's a pilot, she has drifted, she knows that Herc can feel things that no scan can reveal, especially since he and Stacker are a perfect match. It seems to reassure her more than any scientific data could have.

"How are you?" She asks again and only now does Herc realise that he never answered her the first time around.

"I'm fine. Battered and bruised, but I'll heal." He gives her a reassuring little smile. "And how are you holding up?"

For a moment Mako seems surprised that he asked, then she regains her composure. "It's better now that you and Raleigh are awake."

The reference to Raleigh reminds Herc rather forcefully of the changes he has noticed in Chuck, and suddenly he know how he can find out what happened. He can ask Mako. Not only was she here for the entire mission and its aftermath, she also knows Raleigh and Chuck and the whole screwed up situation between Herc and and his son. 

"Mako, can I ask you something?"

She looks at him, her gaze open and sincere. "Sure." 

"What happened?" Herc makes an undefined gesture that could include everything, from them to the room to the world. "I mean, I feel like things changed massively while I was out, and now I'm not even sure this is real. Especially Chuck, he seems like an entirely different person. He hasn't said one sharp word to me ever since I woke up."

Mako lowers her gaze for a moment, same as Herc has seen Chuck do when he enquired after Raleigh. Now he's sure that he's missing an important piece of information. 

Mako seems to think about where to start, and Herc waits patiently for her to decide. After a few moments she looks up again. "When Gipsy entered the Breach, Slatttern's attack cut Chuck's oxygen line. Raleigh rerouted his own supply and then triggered the ejection of Chuck's escape pod. He piloted solo and had to initiate the core meltdown manually because the systems were damaged. Then we lost all communication until Chuck's pod reached the surface."

She pauses, her lips a thin line. "Raleigh's didn't follow suite. Chuck thought both you and Raleigh were dead. When Raleigh's pod finally did resurface, he wasn't breathing. I heard Chuck say over the comm that he couldn't feel Raleigh anymore." 

She lets that stand for a moment, and Herc feels an icy shiver run down his back. Just the thought of losing the connection to Stacker in such a situation makes his blood run cold, and he's lived with the threat that the cancer poses to Stacker's life for a long time. Chuck on the other hand... It explains so much.

"I don't know what it's like to have a perfect match. I can only imagine that it must be terrifying to lose the connection." She looks at him intensely, and he knows she's not only talking about Chuck and Raleigh. 

Herc swallows hard and nods. She's lived with the fear and the certainty of losing Stacker almost as long as he has. It might be on another level, but she understands. "It is."

"Raleigh woke up for a short moment, but he was in a coma for over a day after they were brought here. The doctors didn't know if he was going to be okay." Mako continues after a moment of silence. "Chuck only left his side to come to see you. Raleigh regained consciousness only a few hours ago."

Herc doesn't have the words to fill the silence. There are still goosebumps covering his skin, and he suddenly understands what was a mystery to him before. Chuck's behaviour, his unexpected maturity, his concern. 

"I think Chuck learned that no matter how bad things are, he still has a lot to lose." Mako concludes, and her voice is quiet but firm, her gaze intense. She seems oddly protective of Chuck. "And now he's trying to make things right."

Herc nods slowly, making a point to hold her gaze. "I will try it, too." 

She inclines her head in acknowledgement and Herc has the impression that he can see a last bit of tension ease out of her shoulders. He never noticed before that it was there.

Mako's gaze rests on Stacker for a long moment, then she looks at Herc. "I will let you and Sensei rest. You must be tired." 

"I'm fine, Mako. I'm not invalid." Herc can't help argue and fingers his thin hospital gown. "If you could maybe find me some decent clothes..."

"Chuck warned me that you would try to return to duty, and I won't agree to it." Mako's voice is firm and no-nonsense, but her eyes are sincere, almost gentle. "Tendo-san and I have it under control. For now your only duty is to rest and get better."

Herc smirks and watches Mako walk towards the door. She has also changed in the past week. She's even stronger than she was before, and he respects her for it.

"Mako." 

She stop with her hand on the handle and turns around to look at him. "Yes?"

"Thank you." Herc has to clear his throat, and he's glad that the dim light helps hiding the blush he can feel on his cheeks. "For everything you did. For caring for Chuck. For caring for me."

She smiles, and it's spontaneous and heartfelt, and it warms something inside Herc. Then she inclines her head again in a little bow before she disappears out of the door. When it quietly clicks shut behind her, Herc takes a deep breath and lets it escape slowly. He's still overwhelmed by everything he learned. Stacks being in a coma, the things Mako told him about Chuck and Raleigh, the realisation of what Chuck went through in the past few days. It's no surprise that he isn't the same man he was before Operation Pitfall. 

Herc slides down a bit, careful not to upset the IV in his uninjured hand, and cuddles up to Stacker's warm body. He rests his head on Stacker's shoulder and buries his nose against his neck. He can feel a reaction to his touch in the ghost drift, and it eases his inner restlessness. Herc closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, allowing the familiar scent of Stacker's skin to calm him. 

Suddenly his limbs feel heavy and he realises just how exhausted he is, how much the interaction with Chuck, Caitlin and Mako has worn him out. His right arm is throbbing in its cast, and the left side of his face begins to burn. The painkillers are wearing off, but he's too tired to care and the pain is not intense enough to keep him awake. Maybe Chuck was right and he really needs a little more rest before returning to his duty. Mako and Tendo are very capable, after all. 

It's his last conscious thought before sleep claims him and he joins Stacker in the pleasant nowhere that he remembers from earlier.


End file.
